What does it means to be a critical scholar? A metalogue between science education doctoral students

• Published in: Cultural studies of science education Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 453 - 467
• Main Authors: Cian, Heidi, Dsouza, Nikeetha, Lyons, Renee, Alston, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Authoring; Barriers; Beryllium; Conversation; Critical Theory; Doctoral Students; Education; Educational theory; Forum; Graduate Students; Information Dissemination; Novices; Professional Identity; Research Methodology; Scholars; Scholarship; Science Education; Science Instruction; Self Concept; Sociology of Education; Student Research; Students; Writing for Publication; Critical scholarship; Doctoral students; Science education; Identity development; Metalogue
• ISSN: 1871-1502; 1871-1510
• DOI: 10.1007/s11422-016-9733-9

This manuscript is written in response to Lydia Burke and Jesse Bazzul’s article Locating a space of criticality as new scholars in science education . As doctoral students finding our place in the culture of science education, we respond by discussing our journeys towards the development of a scholarly identity, with particular focus on whether or how we see ourselves as critical scholars. Since each of us authoring this paper has a different perspective, a metalogue format is utilized to ensure all of our voices and journeys are represented. We use the Burke and Bazzul article as a platform for conversations about challenges faced for emerging scholars in the field of science education and explore how we see our role in responding to these challenges. Specifically, we discuss the barriers to publication, dissemination of research to practitioners, and how to approach these problems from a grounding in critical theory. As a result of our conversations, we conclude that there is a need to reshape the field of science education to invite more unorthodox research perspectives, methodologies, and publication formats. To do so, the issues we explore require a continued conversation between emerging scholars, practicing researchers, and practicing educators.